Vicki Pompea
 Folksinger & Songwriter

Thanksgiving (the day) has passed, but I want to post my gratitude and thoughts.

This has been a year of endings and beginnings (thank goodness for the beginnings!) - but all the way through, music has remained a partner to me. I've averaged 2 gigs per month - and I wouldn't get to do that without you. Thank you for coming and listening. I love sharing my music. It's just not the same if it stays in my living room <grin>.

And thank you for listening in *your* home. For buying my CDs and making my songs…

I love playing at Farmer's Markets. Performance is a like a conversation between me and the audience.  At a Farmer's Market, we get to communicate, sweetly and clearly.  When a group of children are nearby, I'll play "Twinkle" or "Puff"; when there are dogs, I'll play my song "Looking Over the Tailgate"; if I see someone with coffee, then it's "The Coffee Song". 

Another way the conversation goes is when I see people singing along, nodding their head, or tapping their feet to the beat. That tells me the…

I remember being on an airplane as a child and being thrilled. So excited to feel the plane move and the engines roar.  And another memory, being on a plane as an adult - terrified as the plane shook and the engines growled.  And I stayed terrified until I remembered my experience as a child.  Then I was excited again - enjoying the ride. Perspective makes a huge difference. 

We can tell ourselves all sorts of stories.  We can make them happy or sad. Positive or negative.  Now I'm off to another…

This is the time of year when time is whizzing by.  My kids will go to school in 2 weeks and I'll be going to school in 1 week - Song School, that is!  Song School is a very special time in Lyons, CO where I get a charge that lasts a whole year. There are classes on performing, singing, playing guitar, music business and more.  But what is truly special is the atmosphere of support and friendship. 

Songs are fragile things. They walk on wobbly legs after they are born.  Only in a kind and nurturing place…

I've been having a ball playing out every other week or so.  But where I've really gotten jazzed is by a concept called "Fearless Songwriting."  Fearless Songwriting is an attempt to overcome internal resistance and that nasty inner critic that can stop any artist dead in her tracks.

So what is it? Simply this - write and record a song in a day; better yet, an hour.  Some of them are pitifully bad; but some are surprisingly good.  The hardest thing I did was commit to write a song a day for a week.  Some…

Today I visited a farm with my kids and their pre-school. Yesterday it was downtown, Walrus Ice Cream, Oak street plaza water features. So many fun things to do in the summer. I'm in the process of lining up gigs for the summer too. I just love playing outdoors. There are farmer's markets, festivals, fundraisers - so many opportunities I was thinking back to when I first started performing (just over 9 years ago). I was so nervous that I couldn't even think about the process of performing. At that time…

OK, looking at the dates - can't believe I haven't posted in so long. I'm hoping that maybe something got lost - but I think it was only my mind. So here's a "Holiday Newsletter" to catch you up on 2009 and the beginning of 2010 1. Gigs. I played around Fort Collins - no trips this year. Only 16 paid gigs this year - scaling back a little. But I got to spend the spring making music weekly with a great Montessori pre-school 2. CDs. Nothing new, except ... I finally re-manufactured my "Twinkle" CD (the…

Can you hear my synopsis creaking? I've finally started moving to the 21st century and I have a myspace page. This (my website) will be where the meat of the information will be, but it will be very interesting to see how I use mypace. Yes, I know. I've already been told that FaceBook is the place to be. Maybe in a couple of more years. Best of 2009 to everyone. I look forward to seeing you soon. And stop by http://www.myspace.com/vickipompea and come be my friend.

Songs. Learnings. Friends. Vibe. It's been almost 2 weeks since I got back from Song School in Lyons and I still haven't quite wrapped my head (and my heart) around the experience It's been 7 years since I was there last. 7 years and 2 children to be exact. I loved the time to concentrate on music. It's that final wordsmithing that takes so long for me. I felt like Thomas Edison - I explored so many blind alleys before I found the right approach. Hurray! And here are some of my wonderful teachers…

OK. I don't usually make a list of these. But ran into a few the other day after the library said I lost a book (which I *know* I returned). Well, anyway, I bought a new, hardcover version of the book, brought it to the library and (you guessed it) I was told that they would not accept it. So I was charged $20 for the book I lost, $15 for processing (I assume for making a new book, library ready - I've got no problem with that) AND I'm stuck with this book that I didn't really like in the first place…